In electronic and electric apparatuses, various protection devices or various protection circuits are used to protect electric elements or a circuit from a transitional excessive current that may flow immediately after a power is turned on (hereinafter, also referred to as “inrush current”) and from various abnormally large currents such as a continuous excessive current generated by any abnormality, for example, short-circuiting (hereinafter, also referred to simply as “excessive current”), that is, an abnormal current.
As such a protection device, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-241665 discloses a resistive device comprising a thermal fuse. In the resistive device comprising the thermal fuse, a resistive component and the thermal fuse component are electrically connected to each other in series, and the resistive device is configured such that, when an inrush current or an excessive current flows through the resistive component comprising the thermal fuse, a Joule heat is generated in the resistive component, the thermal fuse component is fused by this heat, and the inrush current or the excessive current is interrupted, and thereby the electronic or the electric apparatus are protected.